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Die verband tussen persoonlikheid en wysheid

Conradie, Madeleine (2002-11)

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The need for the wise employee in modern organisations can,
especially in the light of technological advancement and global
competition, not be denied. The current work environment is dynamic
and poses numerous challenges to employees. Attributes such as
insight, good judgement and decision-making are required; attributes
that correlate with wisdom. Certain personality attributes such as
maturity, tranquility, flexibility and empathy are often being used in
the description of wise individuals and are also being set as
requirements for the modern employee. Research and studies with
regard to wisdom are limited. As limited and contradictory results exist
with regard to the Industrial Psychological enquiry into wisdom, a
need exists for further research, especially with regard to the
circumstances and factors that are applicable to the South African
business organisation.
As a potential relationship between wisdom and personality traits
exists, it has been set as the subject of investigation for this study.
Certain personality traits grant possible access to or might faseilltate
the development of wisdom. If the wise employee can be identified by
means of a personality test, it can be of significant value in for
example the selection process.
Wisdom, for the purpose of this study, refers to expert knowledge with
regard to insight, good advice and judgement for complicated life
problems. The concept of personality is for the purpose of the study, based on the trait approach where the second order factors of the 16
PF-questionnaire, namely extroversion, anxiety, tough mindedness,
independence and compulsivity, serve as the structural components of
personality.
The sample comprises 67 employees who are employed at the central
office of a big South African retail company. A wisdom knowledge
instrument has been used for the measurement of wisdom knowledge
where participants advise on three difficult life problems. The
adjusted evaluation instrument of Hira and Faulkender (1997), based
on Smith and Baltes' definition of wisdom (1995) as an expert
knowledge system, has been used by two evaluators for the
evaluation of the responses. The biographical questionnaire was
specifically developed to comply with the requirements of the
investigation.
The results of this investigation shows that a significant correlation
between wisdom knowledge and the second order personality factors
(-traits) of the 16PF exists, namely anxiety and independence. No
significant correlation has been found between wisdom knowledge and
the other three second-order factors, namely extroversion, tough
mindedness and compulsivity. The personality traits have also
indicated a low, but significant variance of the wisdom counts.
Personality nevertheless shows a correlation with wisdom, in this
study.
Biographical variables that show a significant positive correlation with
wisdom knowledge counts are sex and level of training. Male
participants have performed significantly better than female
participants. It is evident from the study that age does not have a
significant influence on wisdom knowledge performance.
It is also evident from the results that the measuring instrument
reflects a valid measurement of wisdom performance and that the two
evaluators' evaluations show a positive correlation with each other. Conclusions and suggestions for future research are made in
accordance with the results of the investigation.